Methods and systems for single-event upset fault injection testing

ABSTRACT

Fault injection testing for field programmable gate array (FPGA) devices including: interfacing with a FPGA device under test (DUT); imaging a configuration RAM (CRAM) of the FPGA DUT with a first configuration image to define a first operational function of the FPGA DUT where the CRAM includes a plurality of CRAM bits, injecting a plurality of single event upsets into a portion of the plurality of the CRAM bits while the FPGA DUT is operating; concurrently monitoring operations of the FPGA DUT and a reference FPGA device; comparing outputs of the FPGA DUT with outputs of the reference FPGA device during concurrent operations, and if there is a mismatch between the outputs of the FPGA DUT and the reference FPGA, determining that error events have occurred within the FPGA DUT; and storing the error events and CRAM location data associated with corresponding single event upsets in an error log.

GOVERNMENT LICENSE RIGHTS

This invention was made with government support with contractinformation withheld. The government has certain rights in theinvention.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates generally to testing electronic equipment and,more particularly, to testing electronic integrated circuits forradiation hardness assurance.

BACKGROUND

Aerospace vehicles, among other types of vehicles, house electronicsystems including integrated circuits (ICs) that can perform variousoperations such as providing navigational control, power,communications, payload monitoring, and data collection. These vehicles,and their electronic systems, are often subjected to extremeenvironmental stresses including ionizing radiation.

An IC may be configured as application specific integrated circuit(ASIC). One type of ASIC is a field programmable gate array (FPGA)device or chip. A FPGA provides field programmable processing circuitrythat enables more rapid development and deployment ofapplication-specific processing functions within electronic equipment.FPGAs typically use sets of look-up tables (LUTs) that are configurableusing configuration random access memory (CRAM). CRAM typically usesstatic RAM (SRAM) that includes configuration information used toconfigure and route multiple LUTs within an FPGA to realize one or moreapplication-specific processing functions of the FPGA chip. SRAMtypically uses latching circuitry called a memory cell to store each bitof information. CRAM may be arranged as distributed RAM,shift-registers, LUTs and are used for routing in an IC. A FPGA chipincludes a programming interface to enable a programmer to read the FPGAconfiguration and configure the processing functions of the FPGA bysetting the CRAM information which, in turn, configures one or more LUTsof the FPGA chip. Hardware description language (HDL) or Very High SpeedIntegrated Circuit Hardware description language (VHDL) are commonlyused FPGA programming languages. Each information bit within CRAM istypically stored as a logical 1 or 0 depending on the state of acorresponding SRAM latching circuit or memory cell element.

Unfortunately, electronic circuitry including FPGA chips operating inspace have proven to be susceptible to adverse effects from ionizingradiation. With respect to FPGAs, ionizing radiation that impactselements of the FPGA chip's architecture can transfer energy to elementssuch as CRAM memory elements, resulting in energy transfers that changethe electrical state of the memory cell elements or latching circuitryand their corresponding logical states. Such changes of state among oneor more CRAM memory elements can result in changes in the intendedconfiguration of the CRAM and, thereby, result in changes toconfigurations of FPGA LUTs which ultimately changes or degradesprocessing functions of an FPGA chip. Existing FPGAs typically implementtriple modular redundancy (TMR) and scrubbing techniques to mitigateadverse effects of ionizing radiation in space.

To provide an assurance that certain ICs such as FPGA devices or chipscan operate robustly while exposed to ionizing radiation in space, FPGAchips are typically subjected to a beam test that requires a continuousseries of expensive particle accelerator test runs, each requiringmonths of preparation and a high cost for each test. This beam testapproach only indicates upset events with no ability to correlate theupset events to impact locations or specific elements within a testedFPGA chip. Furthermore, the beam test approach yields noisy data due tovariable beam effects, which makes analysis of the test results, such abeing able to specifically identify defective circuitry of a FPGA,extremely difficult.

As an alternative testing approach, fault injection testing (FIT) hasbeen attempted, but has either: failed, been limited to bare-bonesproof-of-concept efforts not reduced to practical application, orrequired extensive embedded test circuitry that impacts FPGA performanceand resource use.

Thus, there is a need for more rapid, more efficient, more granular, andless costly assurance testing of integrated circuits such as FPGAs thatare expected to withstand adverse effects of ionizing radiation inspace. Furthermore, there is a need for more deterministic and reliableassurance testing that reduces over-design of fault tolerant circuits,freeing up FPGA resources for more functionality while reducing FPGAcircuit complexity and costs.

SUMMARY

The application, in various implementations, addresses deficienciesassociated with testing the fault tolerance of electronic circuitsincluding FPGA devices and/or chips subject to ionizing radiation inspace.

This application describes exemplary fault injection testing (FIT) toolsand methods for quickly, accurately, and inexpensively simulatingradiation induced upsets in RAM based FPGA designs that normallyrequires many lengthy, risky, and expensive particle accelerator beamtests to evaluate. The inventive techniques described herein include thefirst practical FPGA design tool proven to accurately and rapidlysimulate upset effects.

FIT, as described in the systems and methods herein, includes a designsimulation tool, enabling FPGA development teams to determine the upsetperformance of their designs in days rather than months, and to pinpointproblem areas immediately. FIT was previously a concept not practicallyrealized in industrial applications. The inventors have raised existingFIT techniques from a concept to a practical industrial design tool. FITcan be performed locally, in hours to days at any level of design withhigh visibility into cause and effect, eliminating test risks andreducing program schedule and cost risk.

The FIT systems and methods described herein for single event upset(SEU) rate measurement differ from conventional beam testing in thesource of upsets. Upsets are logically injected into FPGA configurationmemory rather than caused by particle impacts. Absolute control of fluxin the fault injection systems and methods described herein allow formuch more accurate testing than with particle beams. Once a test is setup (e.g. in about 1 day), it may take no more than 12 hours to run asopposed to taking about three months for setup and execution using beamtesting. The systems and/or methods described herein for SEU ratemeasurement may be implemented on flight hardware and/or flight firmwarewithout destroying it or making it unusable due to de-lidding fortesting or due to residual radioactivity. The inventive FIT techniquesdescribed herein may use hardware, firmware, and/or software testinterfaces to implement logical fault injection methods, implement anupset measurement methodology, and/or implement cause and effect impactassessment methods.

In one aspect, a fault injection test system for FPGA devices includes atest interface module having a first communications interface for a FPGAdevice under test (DUT) and a second communications interface for areference FPGA device. The test interface module may be arranged to:image a configuration RAM (CRAM) of the FPGA DUT, via the firstcommunications interface, with a first configuration image to implementa first operational function in the FPGA DUT, the CRAM including aplurality of CRAM bits; image a CRAM of the reference FPGA device, viathe second communications interface, with the first configuration imageto implement the first operational function in the reference FPGAdevice, and log error event data associated with one or more errorevents stored in one or more error registers.

The system also includes a configuration module having at least acommunications interface to the FPGA DUT, where the configuration moduleis arranged to inject a plurality of single event upsets into a portionof the plurality of the CRAM bits while the FPGA DUT is operating basedon the operational function. The system further includes a monitormodule having at least a communications interface for the FPGA DUT andin communications with the reference FPGA device. The monitor moduleincludes the one or more error registers and is arranged to: monitoroperations of the FPGA DUT and the reference FPGA device while the FPGADUT and the reference FPGA devices are operating concurrently; compareone or more outputs of the FPGA DUT with one or more outputs of thereference FPGA device during concurrent operations; and if there is amismatch between the one or more outputs of the FPGA DUT and the one ormore outputs of the reference FPGA, determine that the one or more errorevents have occurred within the FPGA DUT and store the one or more errorevents in the one or more error registers.

The configuration module, which is in communications with the testmodule and the monitor module, may be further arranged to: instruct thetest interface module to image the FPGA DUT and reference FPGA deviceand initiate concurrent operations of the FPGA DUT and the referenceFPGA device; instruct the monitor module to monitor the concurrentoperations of the FPGA DUT and the reference FPGA device while theconfiguration module injects the plurality of single event upsets intothe portion of the plurality of CRAM bits of the FPGA DUT, and store theerror event data associated with the one or more error events in anerror log.

The configuration module may randomly select the portion of theplurality of the CRAM bits. The configuration module may select theportion of the plurality of the CRAM bits based on an error log from aprevious fault injection test of the FPGA DUT. The configuration modulemay select the portion of the plurality of the CRAM bits based on one ormore memory addresses of the CRAM bits associated with error events inthe error log of the previous fault injection test of the FPGA DUT.

In one implementation, injecting a single event upset of the pluralityof single event upsets includes changing a logical state of a CRAM bitfrom a logical 1 to a logical 0 or from a logical 0 to a logical 1. Achange in logical state of a CRAM bit corresponds to a change in anelectrical state of a CRAM memory element. The error event data mayinclude one or more memory locations of where single event upsets wereinjected into CRAM. The error log may be stored in a database located inthe monitor module and/or the configuration module. The configurationmodule may instruct the test interface module to re-image the CRAM ofthe FPGA DUT with a second configuration image that implements the firstoperational function of the FPGA DUT based on the error log where thesecond configuration image implements the first operational function ofthe FPGA DUT while increasing a fault tolerance of the FPGA DUT.

In another aspect, a method for performing fault injection testing forFPGA devices includes: interfacing, via a first communicationsinterface, with a FPGA DUT; imaging a configuration RAM (CRAM) of theFPGA DUT with a first configuration image to define a first operationalfunction of the FPGA DUT where the CRAM includes a plurality of CRAMbits; injecting a plurality of single event upsets into a portion of theplurality of the CRAM bits while the FPGA DUT is operating based on theoperational function; monitoring, via a second communications interface,operations of the FPGA DUT; monitoring concurrently with monitoring theoperations of the FPGA DUT, via a third communications interface,operations of a reference FPGA device, wherein a CRAM of the referenceFPGA device is configured with the first configuration image andoperating based on the first operational function; comparing one or moreoutputs of the FPGA DUT with one or more outputs of the reference FPGAdevice during concurrent operations; if there is a mismatch between theone or more outputs of the FPGA DUT and the one or more outputs of thereference FPGA, determining that one or more error events have occurredwithin the FPGA DUT; and storing at least one of the one or more errorevents and CRAM location data associated with corresponding single eventupsets in an error log.

In one implementation, the method includes randomly selecting theportion of the plurality of the CRAM bits. The method may includeselecting the portion of the plurality of the CRAM bits based on anerror log from a previous fault injection test of the FPGA DUT. Themethod may include injecting the selected plurality of single eventupsets into the portion of the plurality of CRAM bits of the FPGA DUTwhile the FPGA DUT is operating. Injecting a single event upset of theplurality of single event upsets includes changing a logical state of aCRAM bit from a logical 1 to a logical 0 or from a logical 0 to alogical 1. A change in logical state of a CRAM bit corresponds to achange in an electrical state of a CRAM memory element. The method mayinclude re-imaging the CRAM of the FPGA DUT with a second configurationimage that implements the first operational function of the FPGA DUTbased on the error log, where the second configuration image implementsthe first operational function of the FPGA DUT while increasing a faulttolerance of the FPGA DUT.

In a further aspect, a method for performing fault injection testing forFPGA devices includes: interfacing with a FPGA DUT; imaging aconfiguration RAM (CRAM) of the FPGA DUT with a first configurationimage to define a first operational function of the FPGA DUT where theCRAM including a plurality of CRAM bits; injecting a first plurality ofsingle event upsets into randomly-selected portions of the plurality ofthe CRAM bits while the FPGA DUT is operating based on the operationalfunction; monitoring operations of the FPGA DUT; comparing one or moreoutputs of the FPGA DUT with one or more known reference outputs; ifthere is a mismatch between the one or more outputs of the FPGA DUT andthe one or more known reference outputs, determining that one or moreerror events have occurred within the FPGA DUT; storing at least one ofthe one or more error events and CRAM location data associated withcorresponding first single event upsets in an error log; and injecting asecond plurality of single event upsets into one or more portions of theplurality of the CRAM bits based on the CRAM location data associatedwith the corresponding first randomly-selected single event upsets inthe error log while the FPGA DUT is operating based on the operationalfunction.

Any two or more of the features described in this specification,including in this summary section, may be combined to formimplementations not specifically described in this specification.Furthermore, while this specification may refer to examples of systemsand methods related to space, the implementations and methods hereinequally apply to land, sea, and underwater systems. The implementationsherein also apply equally to fixed facilities or systems that may besubject to extreme environmental stresses or conditions.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the following description. Other features andadvantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and fromthe claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary FPGA design process including FIT;

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of a computer system arranged to perform FPGAFIT;

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a FIT system configured to interfacewith an FPGA DUT and reference FPGA device;

FIG. 4 shows a process table including a comparison of FIT to beamtesting; and

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a FPGA device and/or chip including anexemplary layout of CRAM.

Like reference numerals in different figures indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The application, in various aspects, addresses deficiencies associatedwith existing FPGA fault tolerance and/or assurance testing based on,for example, heavy ion beam testing. FIT, as described in the systemsand methods herein, includes a design simulation tool, enabling FPGAdevelopment teams to determine the upset performance of their designs indays rather than months, and to pinpoint problem areas immediately. Incertain implementations, upsets are logically injected into FPGAconfiguration memory rather than caused by particle impacts. Absolutecontrol of flux in the fault injection systems and methods describedherein allow for much more accurate testing than with particle beams.Once a test is set up (e.g. in about 1 day), it may take no more than 12hours to run as opposed to taking about three months for setup andexecution using beam testing. The systems and/or methods describedherein for SEU rate measurement may be implemented on flight hardwareand/or flight firmware without destroying it or making it unusable dueto de-lidding for testing or due to residual radioactivity. Theinventive FIT techniques described herein may use hardware, firmware,and/or software test interfaces to implement logical fault injectionmethods, implement an upset measurement methodology, and/or implementcause and effect impact assessment methods.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary FPGA design process 100 includingSEU FIT 102. Process 100 starts (Step 104) with establishing FPGA singleevent effects (SEE) requirements for an FPGA device (Step 106) anddeveloping the algorithm and/or function to be implemented in the FPGAdevice (Step 108). FPGA SEU characterization may also be performed (Step110). The characterization may include heavy ion and proton testingand/or measurements of the cross-section the CRAM of the FPGA, FPGAprimitives, and/or IP blocks of the FPGA device. In the next phase,certain aspects of the FPGA device design are performed includingregister-transfer level (RTL) development and/or circuit simulations andverifications (Step 112). Then TMR may be inserted based on, withoutlimitation, Synplify TMR, single vector TMR, triple vector TMR, a BYUTMR tool, and/or a custom TMR application (Step 114). Then, an SEU faultinjection test (FIT) is performed (Step 102). FIT includes a low riskconstant flux of SEU injection over short iterations. If the FPGA devicemeets a threshold requirement of tolerance to SEUs (Step 116), thendesign of the FPGA device is finished (Step 118). If the FPGA devicedoes not meet the threshold level of assurance and/or fault tolerance(Step 116), then the process is iterated (Step 120) by returning back tothe start (Step 104). Iterations may be repeated while TMR is addedand/or adjusted before each iteration and until output errors are belowan acceptable error level which may less than or equal to 0%, 2%, 5%,10%, 30%, 40%, or 50%, or higher.

FIG. 2 is block diagram of a computer system 200 arranged to performprocessing associated with a FPGA design tool and/or FIT system such as,for example, systems 100 and 300, which are discussed in detail laterherein. The exemplary computer system 200 includes a central processingunit (CPU) 202, a memory 204, and an interconnect bus 206. The CPU 202may include a single microprocessor or a plurality of microprocessors orspecial purpose processors for configuring computer system 200 as amulti-processor system. The memory 204 illustratively includes a mainmemory and a read only memory. The computer 200 also includes the massstorage device 208 having, for example, various disk drives, tapedrives, etc. The memory 204 also includes dynamic random access memory(DRAM) and high-speed cache memory. In operation, memory 204 stores atleast portions of instructions and data for execution by the CPU 202.The memory 204 may also contain compute elements, such as Deep In-MemoryArchitectures (DIMA), wherein data is sent to memory and a function ofthe data (e.g., matrix vector multiplication) is read out by the CPU202.

The mass storage 208 may include one or more magnetic disk, optical diskdrives, and/or solid state memories, for storing data and instructionsfor use by the CPU 202. At least one component of the mass storagesystem 208, preferably in the form of a non-volatile disk drive, solidstate, or tape drive, stores the database used for processing data andcontrolling functions of an FPGA FIT of systems 100 and/or 300. The massstorage system 208 may also include one or more drives for variousportable media, such as a floppy disk, flash drive, a compact disc readonly memory (CD-ROM, DVD, CD-RW, and variants), memory stick, or anintegrated circuit non-volatile memory adapter (i.e. PC-MCIA adapter) toinput and output data and code to and from the computer system 200.

The computer system 200 may also include one or more input/outputinterfaces for communications, shown by way of example, as interface 210and/or a transceiver for data communications via the network 212. Thedata interface 210 may be a modem, an Ethernet card or any othersuitable data communications device. To provide the functions of aprocessor according to FIGS. 1 and 3, the data interface 210 may providea relatively high-speed link to a network 212, such as an intranet,internet, FPGA testing network, or the Internet, either directly orthrough another external interface. The communication link to thenetwork 212 may be, for example, optical, wired, or wireless (e.g., viasatellite or cellular network). The computer system 200 may also connectvia the data interface 210 and network 212 to at least one othercomputer system to perform remote or distributed FIT. Alternatively, thecomputer system 200 may include a mainframe or other type of hostcomputer system capable of Web-based communications via the network 212.The computer system 200 may include software for operating a networkapplication such as a web server and/or web client.

The computer system 200 may also include suitable input/output ports,that may interface with a portable data storage device, or use theinterconnect bus 206 for interconnection with a local display 216 andkeyboard 214 or the like serving as a local user interface forprogramming and/or data retrieval purposes. The display 216 may includea touch screen capability to enable users to interface with the system200 by touching portions of the surface of the display 216. Serveroperations personnel may interact with the system 200 for controllingand/or programming the system from remote terminal devices via thenetwork 212.

The computer system 200 may run a variety of application programs andstore associated data in a database of mass storage system 208. One ormore such applications may include SEU FIT 102, test interface module306, configuration module 308, and monitor module 312 such as describedwith respect to FIGS. 1 and 3. The components contained in the computersystem 200 may enable the computer system to be used as a server,workstation, personal computer, network terminal, mobile computingdevice, mobile telephone, System on a Chip (SoC), and the like. Asdiscussed above, the computer system 200 may include one or moreapplications such as waveform control, streaming cross-correlations,artifact corrections, target acquisitions, and the tracking anddiscrimination of targets. The system 200 may include software and/orhardware that implements a web server application. The web serverapplication may include software such as HTML, XML, WML, SGML, PHP(Hypertext Preprocessor), CGI, and like languages.

The foregoing features of the disclosure may be realized as a softwarecomponent operating in the system 200 where the system 200 includes Unixworkstation, a Windows workstation, a LINUX workstation, or other typeof workstation. Other operation systems may be employed such as, withoutlimitation, Windows, MAC OS, and LINUX. In some aspects, the softwarecan optionally be implemented as a C language computer program, or acomputer program written in any high level language including, withoutlimitation, Javascript, Java, CSS, Python, Keras, TensorFlow, PHP, Ruby,C++, C, Shell, C#, Objective-C, Go, R, TeX, VimL, Perl, Scala,CoffeeScript, Emacs Lisp, Swift, Fortran, or Visual BASIC. Certainscript-based programs may be employed such as XML, WML, PHP, and so on.The system 200 may use a digital signal processor (DSP).

As stated previously, the mass storage 208 may include a database. Thedatabase may be any suitable database system, including the commerciallyavailable Microsoft Access database, and can be a local or distributeddatabase system. A database system may implement Sybase and/or a SQLServer. The database may be supported by any suitable persistent datamemory, such as a hard disk drive, RAID system, tape drive system,floppy diskette, or any other suitable system. The system 200 mayinclude a database that is integrated with the system 100 or 300,however, it will be understood that, in other implementations, thedatabase and mass storage 208 can be an external element.

In certain implementations, the system 200 may include an Internetbrowser program and/or be configured operate as a web server. In someconfigurations, the client and/or web server may be configured torecognize and interpret various network protocols that may be used by aclient or server program. Commonly used protocols include HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Telnet, andSecure Sockets Layer (SSL), and Transport Layer Security (TLS), forexample. However, new protocols and revisions of existing protocols maybe frequently introduced. Thus, in order to support a new or revisedprotocol, a new revision of the server and/or client application may becontinuously developed and released.

In one implementation, the system 100 includes a networked-based, e.g.,Internet-based, application that may be configured and run on the system200 and/or any combination of the other components of the system 100.The computer system 200 may include a web server running a Web 2.0application or the like. Web applications running on system 100 may useserver-side dynamic content generation mechanisms such, withoutlimitation, Java servlets, CGI, PHP, or ASP. In certain embodiments,mashed content may be generated by a web browser running, for example,client-side scripting including, without limitation, JavaScript and/orapplets on a wireless device.

In certain implementations, system 100 and/or 200 may includeapplications that employ HDL, VHDL, asynchronous JavaScript+XML (Ajax)and like technologies that use asynchronous loading and contentpresentation techniques. These techniques may include, withoutlimitation, XHTML and CSS for style presentation, document object model(DOM) API exposed by a web browser, asynchronous data exchange of XMLdata, and web browser side scripting, e.g., JavaScript. Certainweb-based applications and services may utilize web protocols including,without limitation, the services-orientated access protocol (SOAP) andrepresentational state transfer (REST). REST may utilize HTTP with XML.

The systems 100 or 300, computer system 200, or another component ofsystems 100 or 300 may also provide enhanced security and dataencryption. Enhanced security may include access control, biometricauthentication, cryptographic authentication, message integritychecking, encryption, digital rights management services, and/or otherlike security services. The security may include protocols such as IPSECand IKE. The encryption may include, without limitation, DES, 3DES, AES,RSA, ECC, and any like public key or private key based schemes. Systems100, 200, and 300 may utilize any of the forgoing encryption algorithmsand/or related test vectors to provide known reference output valuesand/or test vectors, i.e., a software-based golden reference, to comparewith outputs from an FPGA DUT implementing such algorithms for FIT.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a FIT system 300 configured to interfacewith an FPGA DUT 302 and reference FPGA device 304. FIT system 300includes a test interface module 306, configuration module 308, a DUTboard 310, a monitor module 312, Ethernet switch 314, and user terminal316. DUT board 310 includes configuration registers 318 and monitormodule and/or board 312 includes configuration and error registers 320.Test interface module 306 may include communications interface and/orgraphical user interface (GUI) 330 that enables communications with DUTboard 320 and/or DUT FPGA 302 via communications link 322. Testinterface module 306 may include communications interface 332 thatenables communications with monitor module 312 and/or reference FPGA 304via communications link 324. Configuration module 308 may communicateusing a communications interface with DUT board 320 and/or DUT FPGA 302via communications link 326. Link 326 may use the JTAG and/or SMAPprotocol among other commercially available or proprietary protocols.Configuration module 308 may communicate via a communications interfacewith monitor module 312 and/or reference FPGA 304 via communicationslink 328. Link 328 may use the JTAG and/or SMAP protocol among othercommercially available or proprietary protocols.

Configuration module 308 may include a third party configuration module.Module 308 may include FPGA configuration routines 334 and/or 336arranged to image CRAM of the FPGA DUT 302 and/or reference FPGA device304 respectively. Module 308 and/or 306 may include an SEU FIT commandfunction and/or application software 338 arranged to control functionssuch as, for example, imaging of the FPGA DUT 302, imaging of thereference FPGA device 304, scrubbing of the FPGA DUT 302 and/orreference FPGA device 304, initiation or stopping of SEU injection intoFPGA DUT 302, and/or initiation or stopping of operations of the FPGADUT 302 and/or reference FPGA device 304. Ethernet switch 314 mayfacilitate communications between test interface module 306,configuration module 308, and/or user terminal 316. Any one or more ofthe functions performed by test interface module 306, configurationmodule 308, and/or monitor module 312 according to exemplary system 300may be performed in whole or in part by any one of modules 306, 308, and312. Communications link 342 enables data communications betweentransceivers of FPGA DUT 302 and reference FPGA device 304 includingmulti-gigabit data transmissions and general purpose input/output (I/O)transmissions.

The test interface module 306 may be arranged to image a CRAM of theFPGA DUT 302, via communications interface 330 and link 322, with afirst configuration image to implement a first operational function inthe FPGA DUT 302 where the CRAM includes a plurality of CRAM bits.Module 306 may also be arranged to image a CRAM of the reference FPGAdevice 304, via communications interface 332 and link 324, with thefirst configuration image to implement the first operational function inthe reference FPGA device 304. Module 306 may also log error event dataassociated with one or more error events stored in one or more errorregisters 320.

Configuration module 308 includes a communications interface thatcommunicates via link 326 with board 310 and/or FPGA DUT 302.Configuration module 308 is arranged to inject a plurality of singleevent upsets into a portion of the plurality of the CRAM bits of FPGADUT 302 while the FPGA DUT 302 is operating based on the firstoperational function. Monitor module 312 has a communications interfacethat communicates via link 342 with FPGA DUT 302 and is also incommunications with the reference FPGA device 304. FPGA DUT 302 may bemounted on board 310 while reference FPGA device 304 may be mounted on aboard of monitor module 312.

Monitor module 312 includes the one or more error registers 320 and isarranged to monitor operations of the FPGA DUT 302 and the referenceFPGA device 304 while the FPGA DUT 302 and the reference FPGA device 304are operating concurrently. Monitor module 312 compares one or moreoutputs of the FPGA DUT 302 with one or more outputs of the referenceFPGA device 304 during concurrent operations. If there is a mismatchbetween the one or more outputs of the FPGA DUT 302 and the one or moreoutputs of the reference FPGA 304, monitor module 312 determines thatone or more error events have occurred within the FPGA DUT 302 andstores the one or more error events in the one or more error registers320.

Configuration module 308, which is in electrical communications withtest interface module 306 and the monitor module 312, may also bearranged to instruct test interface module 306 to image FPGA DUT 302 andreference FPGA device 304. Configuration module 308 may initiateconcurrent operations of FPGA DUT 302 and reference FPGA device 304.Configuration module 308 may instruct monitor module 312 to monitor theconcurrent operations of the FPGA DUT 302 and the reference FPGA device304 while the configuration module 308 injects the plurality of singleevent upsets into the portion of the plurality of CRAM bits of the FPGADUT 302. Configuration module 308 may store error event data associatedwith the one or more error events in an error log 340.

Configuration module 308 may randomly select the portion of theplurality of the CRAM bits where SEUs are injected. Configuration module308 may select the portion of the plurality of the CRAM bits based onerror log data from a previous fault injection test of the FPGA DUT 302.Configuration module 308 may select the portion of the plurality of theCRAM bits based on one or more memory addresses of the CRAM bitsassociated with error events in the error log 340 of the previous faultinjection test of the FPGA DUT 302.

As previously discussed, injecting a single event upset includeschanging a logical state of a CRAM bit from a logical 1 to a logical 0or from a logical 0 to a logical 1. A change in logical state of a CRAMbit corresponds to a change in an electrical state of a CRAM memoryelement such as, for example, a flip-flop. The error event data mayinclude one or more memory locations of where single event upsets wereinjected into CRAM. The error log 340 may be stored in a databaselocated in monitor module 312 and/or in configuration module 308.

Configuration module 308 may instruct the test interface module 306 tore-image the CRAM of FPGA DUT 302 with a second configuration image thatimplements the first operational function of FPGA DUT 302 based on theerror log 340 where the second configuration image implements the firstoperational function of the FPGA DUT 302 while increasing a faulttolerance of the FPGA DUT 302. This may include, for example, adjustingand/or increasing TMR in the image for FPGA DUT 302. Configurationmodule 308 may also performing scrubbing of FPGA DUT 302 and/orreference FPGA device 304 via test interface module 306 or directly via,for example, communication links 326 and/or 328.

In operation according to one exemplary process, SEU FIT function 338performs the following:

Commands and/or instructs test interface module 306 via GUIs 330 and 332to configure and/or image the FPGAs 302 and 304.

Commands test interface module 306 GUI 332 to start logging errorregister 320 contents.

Commands configuration module 308, via FPGA routines 334, to inject(then correct) CRAM errors in FPGA DUT 302. Correction may includescrubbing based on, without limitation, blind scrubbing, CRC-basedscrubbing, Frame ECC-based scrubbing, and/or SECDED scrubbing.

Commands FPGA routines 334 to stop injection/correction process.

Commands test interface module 306 GUI 332 to stop logging errorregister 320 contents.

Such a process advantageously coordinates steps of the FIT to runquickly and without human intervention, making it scalable to work onlarge complex flight images which require a large amount of data.Conventional fault injection approaches have required complex humanintervention and decision making between fault injection routines andfunctional monitoring which has not been scalable to large complexdesigns. In contrast, the inventive FIT described herein includesdecision algorithms that automate FIT process. Conventional particlebeam approaches have required major engineering work between runs aswell as significant cost and scheduling associated with using the beamfacility. Furthermore, conventional particle beam approaches generatenoisy data from which it is difficult to extract accurate error rates,which can result in over-design with excessive TMR that can wasteotherwise usable space on an FPGA device.

System 300 includes a configuration capable of performing an upsetmeasurement method where errors are identified by comparing FPGA DUT 302results to a golden copy running in lockstep on a separate FPGA, e.g.,reference FPGA device 304, while recording mis-compares or mismatches inerror registers 320. In some implementations, system 300 does not haveto run the FPGA DUT 302 and reference FPGA 304 in lockstep. System 300can buffer the results from either the FPGA DUT 302 or reference FPGA304 and find the correct starting point for the comparison between theoutputs of the FPGA DUT 302 and reference FPGA 304. Regardless ofwhether lockstep or buffering comparisons are performed, system 300 maymonitor concurrent operations of the FPGA DUT 302 and reference FPGA 304to compare their outputs from a particular starting point. Testinterface module 306 GUI 332 reads error registers 320 on monitor module312 and/or reference FPGA device 304 via any protocol (e.g., I2C, UART,and/or custom) which enables test interface module 306 to be used withany hardware setup. This flexibility facilitates executing a FITexperiment on any hardware setup including flight hardware andengineering models. This approach is extensible to complex hardwaresetups that facilitates efficient testing of complex flight designs.Conventional FIT methods are limited to run on specific hardware withfew I/O options, limiting the types of designs that may be tested.Furthermore, conventional methods compare outputs to expected resultsfrom software simulation limiting its use to smaller designs.

System 300 also includes a configuration capable of performing a causeand effect determination method where the FIT test randomly selects CRAMbits into which it inserts upsets. Those upset locations are stored in alog file, e.g., error log 340, enabling the ability to then execute aFIT test targeting specific upset locations identified from the previousrandom test. This feature enables the ability to map specific upsetlocations to any observed design level upset which greatly enhancingdesign debugging. The coordination of the error logging portion of a FITexperiment and the fault injection portion of the FIT experiment makesit easy to replicate results for targeted debug of any design levelupset of interest. Conventional approaches do not have the coordinationof fault injection locations and design level error logging making thissort of cause and effect analysis extremely difficult.

FIG. 4 shows a FPGA fault testing process table 400 including acomparison of FIT in column 422 to beam testing in column 424. Testinghardware is initially setup, e.g. hardware included in system 300 (Step402). Then, the FPGA DUT, e.g., FPGA DUT 302, is imaged or re-imaged(Step 404). A function test is initiated (Step 406). Scrubbing isinitiated (Step 408). Error logging is initiated (Step 410). Then, SEUsare injected into the CRAM of FPGA DUT (Step 412). After apre-determined fluence, error injection is stopped (Step 414). Errorlogging is stopped (Step 416). Scrubbing is stopped (Step 418). Then,the process is repeated by going to Step 404. Steps 402, 404, 406, 408,410, 416, 418, and 420 are the same between FIT and heavy ion beamtesting. But, in Step 412, FIT includes writing erroneous values torandom CRAM bits using a fixed flux while CRAM is the only source ofupsets (See Column 422). In contrast, heavy ion beam testing in Step 412involves exposing a FPGA DUT to a variable flux that can potentiallyaffecting any FPGA elements and/or primitives which could be sources ofupsets, not just CRAM bits. In step 414, both FIT and heavy ion beamtesting produce similar amount of data.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a FPGA device and/or chip 500 includingan exemplary layout of CRAM and/or logical blocks. FIG. 5 illustrateshow difficult and/or impractical it is to precisely determine the sourceof upsets within an FPGA device 500 using heavy ion beam testing as thebeam could affect primitives within any of, for example, logic blocks502, 504, and 506. In contrast, FIT enables very granular and specifictargeting of particular CRAM bits in any one of or all of logic blocks502, 504, and 506.

Elements or steps of different implementations described may be combinedto form other implementations not specifically set forth previously.Elements or steps may be left out of the systems or processes describedpreviously without adversely affecting their operation or the operationof the system in general. Furthermore, various separate elements orsteps may be combined into one or more individual elements or steps toperform the functions described in this specification.

Other implementations not specifically described in this specificationare also within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A fault injection test system for fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA) devices comprising: a test interfacemodule including a first communications interface for a FPGA deviceunder test (DUT) and a second communications interface for a referenceFPGA device, the test interface module being arranged to: image aconfiguration RAM (CRAM) of the FPGA DUT, via the first communicationsinterface, with a first configuration image to implement a firstoperational function in the FPGA DUT, the CRAM including a plurality ofCRAM bits, image a CRAM of the reference FPGA device, via the secondcommunications interface, with the first configuration image toimplement the first operational function in the reference FPGA device,and log error event data associated with one or more error events storedin one or more error registers; a configuration module including a thirdcommunications interface to the FPGA DUT, the configuration modulearranged to inject a plurality of single event upsets into a portion ofthe plurality of the CRAM bits while the FPGA DUT is operating based onthe first operational function; and a monitor module including a fourthcommunications interface for the FPGA DUT and in communications with thereference FPGA device, the monitor module including the one or moreerror registers, the monitor module arranged to: monitor operations ofthe FPGA DUT and the reference FPGA device while the FPGA DUT and thereference FPGA devices are operating concurrently, compare one or moreoutputs of the FPGA DUT with one or more outputs of the reference FPGAdevice during concurrent operations, and when there is a mismatchbetween the one or more outputs of the FPGA DUT and the one or moreoutputs of the reference FPGA, determine that the one or more errorevents have occurred within the FPGA DUT and store the one or more errorevents in the one or more error registers; and the configuration modulein communication with the test interface module and the monitor modulebeing further arranged to: instruct the test interface module to imagethe FPGA DUT and reference FPGA device and initiate concurrentoperations of the FPGA DUT and the reference FPGA device, instruct themonitor module to monitor the concurrent operations of the FPGA DUT andthe reference FPGA device while the configuration module injects theplurality of single event upsets into the portion of the plurality ofCRAM bits of the FPGA DUT, and store the error event data associatedwith the one or more error events in an error log.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the configuration module randomly selects the portionof the plurality of the CRAM bits.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein theconfiguration module selects the portion of the plurality of the CRAMbits based on an error log from a previous fault injection test of theFPGA DUT.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the configuration moduleselects the portion of the plurality of the CRAM bits based on one ormore memory addresses of the CRAM bits associated with error events inthe error log of the previous fault injection test of the FPGA DUT. 5.The system of claim 1, wherein injecting a single event upset of theplurality of single event upsets includes changing a logical state of aCRAM bit from a logical 1 to a logical 0 or from a logical 0 to alogical
 1. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein a change in logical stateof a CRAM bit corresponds to a change in an electrical state of a CRAMmemory element.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the error event dataincludes one or more memory locations of where single event upsets thatwere injected into CRAM.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the error logis stored in a database located in at least one of the monitor moduleand the configuration module.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein theconfiguration module instructs the test interface module to re-image theCRAM of the FPGA DUT with a second configuration image that implementsthe first operational function of the FPGA DUT based on the error log.10. The system of claim 9, wherein the second configuration imageimplements the first operational function of the FPGA DUT whileincreasing a fault tolerance of the FPGA DUT.
 11. A method forperforming fault injection testing for field programmable gate array(FPGA) devices comprising: interfacing, via a first communicationsinterface, with a FPGA device under test (DUT); imaging a configurationRAM (CRAM) of the FPGA DUT with a first configuration image to define afirst operational function of the FPGA DUT, the CRAM including aplurality of CRAM bits; injecting a plurality of single event upsetsinto a portion of the plurality of the CRAM bits while the FPGA DUT isoperating based on the operational function; monitoring, via a secondcommunications interface, operations of the FPGA DUT; monitoringconcurrently with monitoring the operations of the FPGA DUT, via a thirdcommunications interface, operations of a reference FPGA device, whereina CRAM of the reference FPGA device is configured with the firstconfiguration image and operating based on the first operationalfunction; comparing one or more outputs of the FPGA DUT with one or moreoutputs of the reference FPGA device during concurrent operations, whenthere is a mismatch between the one or more outputs of the FPGA DUT andthe one or more outputs of the reference FPGA, determining that one ormore error events have occurred within the FPGA DUT; and in response todetermining that the one or more error events have occurred within theFPGA DUT, storing at least one of the one or more error events and CRAMlocation data associated with corresponding single event upsets in anerror log.
 12. The method of claim 11 comprising randomly selecting theportion of the plurality of the CRAM bits.
 13. The method of claim 11comprising selecting the portion of the plurality of the CRAM bits basedon an error log from a previous fault injection test of the FPGA DUT.14. The method of claim 13 comprising injecting the selected pluralityof single event upsets into the portion of the plurality of CRAM bits ofthe FPGA DUT while the FPGA DUT is operating.
 15. The method of claim11, wherein injecting a single event upset of the plurality of singleevent upsets includes changing a logical state of a CRAM bit from alogical 1 to a logical 0 or from a logical 0 to a logical
 1. 16. Themethod of claim 15, wherein a change in logical state of a CRAM bitcorresponds to a change in an electrical state of a CRAM memory element.17. The method of claim 11, wherein the error log includes at least oneof a register and a database.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the atleast one of the register and the database are located in a monitormodule and a configuration module.
 19. The method of claim 11 comprisingre-imaging the CRAM of the FPGA DUT with a second configuration imagethat implements the first operational function of the FPGA DUT based onthe error log, wherein the second configuration image implements thefirst operational function of the FPGA DUT while increasing a faulttolerance of the FPGA DUT.
 20. A method for performing fault injectiontesting for field programmable gate array (FPGA) devices comprising:interfacing with a FPGA device under test (DUT); imaging a configurationRAM (CRAM) of the FPGA DUT with a first configuration image to define afirst operational function of the FPGA DUT, the CRAM including aplurality of CRAM bits, injecting a first plurality of single eventupsets into randomly-selected portions of the plurality of the CRAM bitswhile the FPGA DUT is operating based on the operational function;monitoring operations of the FPGA DUT; comparing one or more outputs ofthe FPGA DUT with one or more known reference outputs; when there is amismatch between the one or more outputs of the FPGA DUT and the one ormore known reference outputs, determining that one or more error eventshave occurred within the FPGA DUT; in response to determining that theone or more error events have occurred within the FPGA DUT, storing atleast one of the one or more error events and CRAM location dataassociated with corresponding first single event upsets in an error log;and injecting a second plurality of single event upsets into one or moreportions of the plurality of the CRAM bits based on the CRAM locationdata associated with the corresponding first randomly-selected singleevent upsets in the error log while the FPGA DUT is operating based onthe operational function.